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The multidisciplinary diva’s first formal departure from the road, 2002’s pointedly titled Living Proof: The Farewell Tour, stretched on for nearly a full three years after its much-ballyhooed commencement, after all, only to be followed by three more years’ worth of “exclusive” casino gigs at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas from 2008 until 2011.

So this current Dressed to Kill road show Cher has been swearing up and down is her final, final, final run around the world’s stages ever probably won’t be the last. As long as she has the motor skills to perform, this woman will be performing. Probably in much less clothing than your average performer of retirement age, too.

Celebrity of the high-falutin’ Cher variety is a hard thing to let go of. And, to her credit, she knows how to swing it. A good third of the action during the 67-year-old singer/actress/persona’s performance at the Air Canada Centre on Monday night — and it was a “performance,” make no mistake — didn’t even require Cher onstage to send tidal waves of elation through the arena. Cheers went up each time a fresh montage of the many, ever-mutating TV, film and video personas she’s adopted over the past 50-odd years as an entertainer went up on the gigantic LED screen at the back of the set to cover another costume change. She even had the gall to run a reel of her acceptance speeches at past Oscar, Emmy and Golden Globe ceremonies. Clearly, Cher is long past the point of “humble brag.”

What’s the point in feigning humility, anyway, when you open your show singing “Woman’s World” whilst being lowered from the rafters, goddess-like, upon a Greco-Roman pillar in a multihued, faux-feathery headdress? The Dressed to Kill production is all about production in the most elaborate sense imaginable: scantily clad centurions (male and female) prancing to and fro for “Strong Enough”; period-appropriate psychedelic geometry swirling everywhere for “The Beat Goes On”; a pop-up circus freak show for “Gypsys, Tramps and Thieves”; cavorting Native Americans to introduce “Half Breed”; an enormous, golden Trojan horse from whence to emerge for “Take It Like a Man”; Sonny Bono making an appearance from beyond the grave to duet with his one-time spouse on “I Got You Babe.” Occasionally, dancers would descend from the ceiling encased in gilded cages and riding atop chandeliers, or acrobats would swing through the air just to cement the fact that there was nothing modest at all about this show.

There were many wigs. There were several amusing discussions of Cher’s Dr Pepper addiction and the soft drink’s failure to exploit it. A variation on the infamous skimpy onesie from the “If I Could Turn Back Time” video made an appearance for, yes, “If I Could Turn Back Time” (“I can still fit into my ‘Turn Back Time’ costume and I’m almost 100,” Cher had observed earlier in the evening) and “Just Like Jesse James.” The place went up like a burning fireworks warehouse for “Believe.”

Ever modest, Cher was moved to comment at one point that, “I think this is a pretty good combination of old songs and new songs.” And she was right. She can still hold it down and no doubt “You Haven’t Seen the Last of Me” will prove prophetic. Again.

“If I come back again, I’ll be my mother,” she said, swearing off the possibility of another farewell jaunt. You’re the one who said it, Cher.

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